The Manusina celebrate winning the Plate title at the Borneo Sevens in Indonesia. Photo: Samoa Women's Rugby Union
The Samoa women's sevens team are hoping to overcome a lack of match-play to challenge for a permanent spot on the upcoming World Series.
The Manusina are among 12 teams competing for two permanent berths on the global circuit, alongside the likes of New Zealand, Australia and Fiji.
Team manager Toleafoa Mara Hunter says they've played in Australia, Malaysia and Hong Kong over the past 12 months but have struggled for matches against top quality opposition.
Pool play gets underway tonight and Hunter says fortunately they have a working knowledge of their opponents - Wales, Japan and Brazil.
"We've seen Japan in the Malaysia and Hong Kong Sevens - they're a pretty disciplined lot. We haven't played Brazil before but we've seen them in other tournaments we've been at in Australia, so they're not absolute strangers to us, so we are looking forward to playing against them and hopefully we will give them a good go".
The tournament concludes tomorrow.
